In the manufacture of patchwork, such as quilts and the like, it is conventional to produce a design on a sheet of thin paper or cardboard and then to cut out the individual patch patterns. Where paper is used for the original design, the individual paper patch patterns are then used to prepare cardboard patch patterns. The cardboard patch patterns are then traced onto the fabric with some marking device; the fabric patches are cut out with appropriate seam margins and sewn together, following the marking lines. The whole process is time-consuming, requires considerable skill, particularly in sewing along the marked lines, and generally produces a wrinkled, dirty patchwork fabric which requires laundering and ironing. In addition, it is difficult to determine where the fabric patches are to go unless they are marked for identification, and this marking must be removed from the fabric.